Awakened from his bed by the sound of gunshots, which sounded too close to home, Lusignan resident Nazir Mohamed scrambled to seek shelter along with his family of four yesterday but was shot while still on his bed.
A little distance away in the kitchen, his young son Shazam Mohamed collapsed on the floor after being hit by bullets that penetrated the walls of their wooden home. Nazir Mohamed was shot twice in both legs but his son was fatally wounded.
“When I left home for the hospital I know he was dead already. When I ask, people try to tell me different, but I could tell from how he was lying down on the floor. They killed my son and attacked us for no reason. No reason at all,” the man said with a perplexed look on his face during an interview from his hospital bed.
He remains hospitalised along with Howard and Roberto Thomas. Of the two Thomas boys, little Roberto remains in a critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital. They are among the survivors of the gruesome attack carried out at Lusignan that has left 11 others dead.
In the 11 years he has resided at Lusignan, Mohamed said this is the first time he has had reason to question the decision to live there and it is the first time that he is terrified of returning home. It is a feeling he is struggling to come to grips with, but figures he has a while in hospital recuperating before going back.
Mohamed recalled that the entire family had retired to bed around 8 pm after having the usual quiet night. Around 3 am, he said, the rapid sound of gunfire rang out in the area awaking him and his wife. Mohamed said he sprang up in the bed and urged his wife to check on their children when a noise erupted outside his home.
An unknown number of men banged on Mohamed’s door repeatedly in an attempt to get in but he and the rest of the family froze where they were. Before he could jump off the bed to seek shelter bullets started flying wild. That was when he was hit twice, in the left and right leg.
He said the men kept banging on the door calling on them to open it but they remained quiet and hid on the floor.
But his son Shazam concerned about what was happening and also worried about his vehicle parked outside got up and went to take a look and only got as far as the kitchen. A bullet hit him in the abdomen and he fell to the floor where he is believed to have died shortly after.
According to Mohamed, the men tried desperately to enter the home and made attempts to kick the door down but failed. He said had the men succeeded and got inside, he and his entire family would have been among the dead.
“They would have shot us dead, everyone last one because that is what they did in the homes they managed to get in,” he noted.
While the men were outside spraying the home with bullets, he said, his daughter tried calling the police but was not successful. Eventually, she dialed a friend and the message was conveyed to the authorities. After the men left their home, he recalled hearing gunshots going off at his neighbour’s home. Then the gunfire ceased.
At this time, neighbours had ventured out of their homes and were at his door calling on him to open up. He said the neighbours later entered the home and managed to rush him to the hospital shortly after.
Mohamed said he had no idea who else was injured in the street, but he knew other persons had been shot. When he got to the hospital, he said, he saw two of the Thomas children who were injured. After he had an emergency operation and was admitted into the ward, he said, the news of what happened reached him and he fought with his emotions to remain calm.
The man said he knew everyone who was killed and was deeply hurt that the children had to be made targets as well. He said the men went solely to kill people and would have wreaked more havoc had they succeeded in kicking down every door they knocked on.
Mohamed said his son was a bright young man who was making progress in his professional life and who lived an exemplary life. He said Shazam had a tremendous future ahead of him and as a role model was a class act for his younger siblings.
He said the killers may not have entered his home but they managed to enter his life and destroyed a part of it by killing his son. Mohamed is hoping those behind the deadly attack are brought to the justice and is putting his trust in the authorities to make it happen.